The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) would like to thank you for your attendance and valuable contributions to the Forced Marriage Workshop and Government Consultations held in Melbourne in June 2017.

Please find attached a copy of the workshop presentations delivered by AGD, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Anti-Slavery Australia, the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights and the Australian Red Cross.

AGD held awareness-raising workshops and government consultations in each state and territory capital between May and August 2017. Outcomes from the workshops and consultations will help to inform government’s consideration of next steps to strengthen Australia’s response to forced marriage.

For your information, please find attached a summary of key outcomes and lessons learned from the Melbourne workshop. If there is anything we have not captured in these documents, please let us know. AGD is finalising the outcomes of the nation-wide consultation meetings and will circulate this to government stakeholders shortly.

Additional resources that might be of interest to your organisation are outlined below.

The Forced Marriage Community Pack comprises a suite of awareness-raising materials for use by people in, or at risk of, forced marriage, community organisations and service providers, the media and general public.

All seven materials are available online at www.ag.gov.au/forcedmarriage. Select materials are also available in the following community languages: Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Somali, Tamil and Urdu. Please feel free to incorporate this information into your existing resources or include links on your website.

My Blue Sky (www.mybluesky.org.au) is Australia’s first national information portal, referral mechanism and legal advice service dedicated to preventing and addressing forced marriage. Watch the video below for more information.

The website provides people in, or at risk of, forced marriage with important information and links to support services, as well as useful multilingual resources for frontline responders, service providers and the general community. All content was developed in close consultation with specialist community organisations to ensure it was culturally sensitive and age appropriate.

Free, confidential legal advice about forced marriage can be obtained through the national forced marriage helpline on (02) 9514 8115, which operates Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm, with an out of hours recorded message.

People can also get help by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or sending an SMS to +61 481 070 844.

Free e-learning course

Anti-Slavery Australia has developed a free comprehensive e-learning course on human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, which includes a module on forced marriage. We would strongly encourage you all to sign up to better understand the key indicators of forced marriage and how you might recognise them in practice. For more information, visit www.antislavery.org.au/e-learning.

Guidelines for NGOs: Working with trafficked people

The Guidelines for NGOs: Working with trafficked people were developed by NGOs, for NGOs. The Guidelines include ten best practice principles and are an important resource for organisations working with people who have experienced human trafficking, slavery or slavery-like practices, including forced marriage. The Guidelines are available online at www.ag.gov.au/humantrafficking.

If you would like to learn more about the AFP’s response to forced marriage, including how to use their online reporting form, please visit www.afp.gov.au/policing/human-trafficking.

Please do not hesitate to get in contact with our team if you have any questions or requests for further information.

We look forward to continued collaboration with you on forced marriage issues.